Third Grade Social Living

Guiding Questions

S.S. Unit 1: Louisiana’s Geography1. Can students understand and describe the

characteristics and uses of various maps?

2. Can students use geographic tools to locate major geographic features on a map and compare various areas in Louisiana?

3. Can students describe and compare various community settings in Louisiana?

S.S. Unit 1 Continued

4. Can students explain patterns of settlement in Louisiana, past and present?

5. Can students describe and compare the physical characteristics of various regions of Louisiana?

S.S. Unit 2: Changes in Louisiana’s Landscape Over Time

1. Can students describe the human characteristics of places in Louisiana?

2. Can students explain how people and the physical environment have changed over time in Louisiana?

3. Can students describe ways in which people in Louisiana have modified the physical environment over time to meet basic needs?

S.S. Unit 2 Continued

4. Can students name examples of physical processes affecting Louisiana?

S.S. Unit 3: Louisiana’s History and People

1. Can students explain patterns of settlements in Louisiana across time?

2. Can students explain why people settled in Louisiana and how the physical environment was adapted to meet their needs?

3. Can students identify role models of responsible citizenship in the past and present?

S.S. Unit 3 Continued

4. Can students compare various cultures and identify the cultural elements that have contributed to Louisiana’s heritage?

S.S. Unit 4: Louisiana’s Leaders

1. Can students describe the major responsibilities of state government and key government positions?

2. Can students identify individuals responsible for making and enforcing state laws?

3. Can students distinguish between rules and laws?

S.S. Unit 4 Continued

4. Can students identify the qualities of a good citizen?

5. Can students identify services provided by the state government?

S.S. Unit 5: Louisiana’s Riches1. Can students identify natural resources in

Louisiana and their uses and importance?

2. Can students identify various resources in the production of goods and provision of services?

3. Can students identify good produced in the local community and Louisiana and how these goods are shipped elsewhere for sale?

S.S. Unit 5 Continued

4. Can students understand the concepts of scarcity and abundance?

5. Can students compare benefits and costs when making choices?

6. Can students identify the concepts of specialization and interdependence?

S.S. Unit 6: Governments: The State of Louisiana and the United States

1. Can students identify the role of state government and how it helps society?

2. Can students explain the responsibilities of individuals in making a community a better place to live?

3. Can students identify how citizens can help solve community problems?

S.S. Unit 7: Louisiana’s Economy

1. Can students provide examples of economic choices and explain the concept of opportunity cost?

2. Can students understand the concept of specialization and interdependence of goods and services?

3. Can students understand the relationship between producers and consumers?

S.S. Unit 7 Continued

4. Can students understand basic principles of supply and demand?

5. Can students discuss trade and how it benefits the parties involved?

6. Can students identify some of the major goods and services produces in Louisiana?

Science Unit 1: Measuring and Describing Matter

1. Can students cite what units of measurement are used to measure length and width?

2. Can students select the appropriate tool to measure temperature, liquid volume, and mass?

3. Can students distinguish what materials make up common objects?

Science Unit 1 Continued

4. Can students describe what physical changes occur when matter changes states and what causes these changes?

Science Unit 2: Energy1. Can students describe how the structure of

an object changes the pitch and volume of sound?

2. Can students describe the relation of an object’s color to its absorption and reflective properties?

3. Can students identify materials that are a good conductor of heat and electricity and tell which materials make the best insulators?

Science Unit 2 Continued

4. Can students describe the effect of color on the temperature of an object when it is exposed to sunlight?

5. Can students diagram a circuit and identify the direction of electrical energy flow in an open and closed circuit?

Science Unit 3: Forces and Motion

1. Can students explain how force is a push or pull on an object?

2. Can students describe the relationship of the height of an inclined plan and the distance on object will roll?

3. Can students explain how the height of an inclined plan determines the speed at which an object moves?

Science Unit 3 Continued

4. Can students describe how the effect of friction determines an object’s movement?

5. Can students observe and analyze shadows and the apparent path of the Sun across the sky from data collected?

Science Unit 4: Rocks, Soils, and Change

1. Can students describe the composition of rocks?

2. Can students explain how Earth’s processes have affected their neighborhood?

3. Can students identify igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks?

Science Unit 4 Continued

4. Can students identify the components of soil?

5. Can students identify the characteristics of fossils?

6. Can students explain how fossil records are used to learn about the past?

Science Unit 5: Plant and Animal Systems

1. Can students describe what the human body needs to grow and be healthy?

2. Can students give examples of how the structures of plants and animals enable to meet their basic needs?

3. Can students cite common characteristics that are used to classify groups of organisms?

Science Unit 5 Continued

4. Can students describe the components and function of the digestive system and the skeletal system?

5. Can students describe what is meant by a balanced daily diet and determine if he or she (as well as his or her classmates) is meeting the requirements?

Science Unit 6: The Solar System

1. Can students explain why the Sun appears to be at different places in the sky during the day?

2. Can students explain why shadows get longer or shorter and change direction over time?

3. Can students name the planets in order from the sun?

Science Unit 6 Continued

4. Can students explain how the rotation of Earth causes day and night?

5. Can students explain the results of the revolution of the Earth around the Sun?

Science Unit 7: The Environment

1. Can students describe the interrelationships between the living and nonliving components of the environment?

2. Can students describe how changes to a habitat affect the organisms that live there?

Science Unit 7 Continued3. Can students give both negative and

positive changes in natural habitats that are caused by humans and how those changes affect animal and plant populations?

4. Can students list natural resources that are used to manufacture products?

5. Can students describe how renewable and nonrenewable resources can be replenished or depleted?

Science Unit 8: Weather Patterns1. Can students differentiate weather from

climate?

2. Can students describe the processes in the water cycle?

3. Can students identify and construct simple weather instruments to record the changes in the weather?

4. Can students accurately read and record the information gathered by each weather instrument?